Luckily this year Wellington SLANZA members managed to avoid earthquakes and floods and actually have a lovely Term 4 get together.After a good catch up and some yummy food we had a presentation from Phil Clarke and Ros Booker, librarians from the IHC Library. This library is a wonderful resource for families and schools alike - it's free to join for anyone over the age of 18 and the only cost involved is getting the books back to the library in Willis Street in Wellington.Phil and Ros talked about the many sorts of resources they have and that they were happy to be rung and asked about what might be useful for all different areas of disability.I would highly recommend people check them out and use them.We also heard from our two recipients of the SLANZA Conference scholarships - Estelle Henrys from Cardinal McKeefry School and Kristy Wilson from Porirua College. It was wonderful to hear how much this

Our event was an enjoyable time of learning and discussion, held at Tawa College’s library.We had twenty-nine people attending, who came from a range of libraries.

Our opening speaker was Philippa Antipas from Connected Learning Advisory, a free service provided by the Ministry of Education to help New Zealand schools and kura make the most of digital technologies for learning. Philippa shared her personal love of reading and libraries, and related how she often refers school staff to their librarian for information, particularly regarding digital literacy. The next presentation was led by Clare Forrest, with contributions from other librarians on the SLANZA Regional Committee, and presented tools and websites which may be useful in school libraries, for us as librarians, and for staff and students.​After a sumptuous morning tea, our last session reflected on Rachel Van Riel’s presentations at the 2017 SLANZA Conference. Rachel kindly granted us permission to use her slideshow, which formed the basis for the discussion. Many librarians who attended Conference shared ways in which they were challenged, and some of the changes they have subsequently made to their libraries. Some were big changes, others small. The key question we asked ourselves was: “Why do we do what we do? Is it only because we have always done it this way?”

A good number of school librarians from all over the Wellington region braved the challenging weather in early April to attend the first SLANZA bookshop night at Paper Plus in Lower Hutt. With the whole shop to ourselves we spent time perusing the shelves and catching up with fellow librarians to see how the year had started. Thanks to John Vallely's hospitality we also got to take away free books, bookmarks and book bags and stock up on brand new books for our collections.Afterwards, we relocated to a nearby restaurant for more food and drink and another chance to renew friendships and meet some new members. Thank you everyone involved- it was a great night.Clare ForrestSLANZA Wellington Region Chairperson